/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EUROSTAT
Directorate E: Sectoral and regional statistics
Unit E3: Environmental and forestry statistics /

10November 2011

Doc. FO/2011WG/10
Only available in EN
Forestry Statistics
Working Group
Work Programme 2012-13

16 – 17 November 2011

JeanMonnetBuilding, Room M1

Kirchberg, Luxembourg

Starting 16 November at 10:00

Ending 17 November at 16:00

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Cover note to the delegates of the Working Group on Forestry Statistics of 16-17 November 2011

Thefirst part of this document reproduces the draft statistical work programme 2012 of the Commission, for the Forestry Statistics theme. The adoption of this work programme by the College is expected by the end of the year.

More details are then given for 2012 and beyond, in line with the policy review presented in Doc. FO/2011WG/5.

The delegates of the Working Group on Forestry Statistics of 16-17 November 2011 are requested to discuss the proposals for future work and advise Eurostat on their feasibility.

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Draft statistical work programme 2012 of the Commission

Theme 4.05 - Forestry statistics

Fields of activities covered by the theme

- Collection of annual data on the production of and trade in wood and wood products for the EU and EFTA countries with the Joint FAO/ECE (Economic Commission for Europe)/Eurostat/ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organisation) Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ)

- Collection of economic data for forestry and logging using the Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting for Forests (IEEAF) approach

1. Work to be carried out by Eurostat in 2012

1.2 ONGOING WORK

Action ID / Action / Output for 2012
(Policy and/or expenditure related) / Depends on funding from other DGs
(1) / (2) / (3) / (4)
798 / Collect, validate and disseminate forestry statistics / Validated data on production of and trade in wood and wood derived products.
Data needed for projects under the EU Forest Action Plan are delivered to the responsible services (mainly DG Agriculture and Rural Development)
4426 / Collect, validate and disseminate forest accounts. Develop and improve the methodology. / Economic data for forestry and logging harmonised with national accounts and between the Member States

3. Legal references

Nature / No / Date / OJ No / Publication Date / Title
Council Resolution / 1999/C 56/01 / 15/12/1998 / C 56 / 26/02/1999 / A forestry strategy for the EU

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Detailed informationfor 2012 and beyond

As detailed in the policy review, with forestry now in the mainstream of the energy and climate policies, Eurostat proposes to respond to the new needs of the EU by

•Continuing to work with the JFSQ on production and trade, while reducing the level of detail to the main product groups.

•Starting to collect forest resources data, in line with the Vision's call for consistent, multi-purpose data, by making use of the two existing IEEAF tables on forest area and wood volumes and adapting them to cover all the reporting requirements for forest resources currently collected by FAO, MCPFE, LULUCF and OECD. The international bodies could then rely on having consistent data available to them whenever needed.

The EU is a party to the UN FCCC and as such should report on both stocks and annual changes for LULUCF, in addition to the reporting by the Member States.

•Continue to work closely with the Standing Forestry Committee, in particular on the variables on forest information that are to be harmonised between the Member States. This work will feed into the review of the EU Forest Strategy planned to be adopted in the third quarter of 2012.

In 2012, we also intend to

  • Analyse in depth the existing discrepancies between the data collected on production and trade in roundwood under the Material Flow Accounts and under the JFSQ
  • Use the JFSQ data to estimate carbon in long-lived harvested wood products (mainly in housing) in selected countries where there is a reliable register of buildings
  • Analyse the usefulness of the short-term economic indicators for predicting the production part of the JFSQ
  • Compare the time series for recovered paper collected with the JFSQ and the waste statistics Regulation
  • Work with the European bird Census Council to develop the indicator of Common forest birds

In 2013, we intend to

  • Concentrate our efforts on the forest information variables that will be agreed on in 2012 and maximise our contribution to their harmonised reporting
  • Continue to work on estimating carbon in long-lived harvested wood products in selected countries
  • Produce a new Pocketbook on Forestry statistics

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